Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data her Department holds on the number of statutory maternity pay cases per constituency in (a) 2022, (b) 2023, and (d) 2024.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is delivered through HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), rather than the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). We do not hold information on SMP cases per constituency, however a breakdown by region, supplied by HMRC, is below.
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
East Midlands | 41,900 | 40,900 | 20,300 |
East of England | 58,600 | 57,100 | 28,900 |
London | 90,300 | 89,500 | 45,700 |
North East | 21,100 | 20,700 | 10,500 |
North West | 66,400 | 64,500 | 32,300 |
Northern Ireland | 20,100 | 19,900 | 10,100 |
Scotland | 45,400 | 43,600 | 21,900 |
South East | 84,500 | 82,900 | 41,500 |
South West | 47,600 | 46,300 | 23,000 |
Wales | 26,000 | 26,000 | 12,900 |
West Midlands | 51,000 | 49,800 | 25,100 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 46,800 | 45,700 | 23,000 |
Notes:
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of ending the Household Support Fund on (a) local authorities and (b) people accessing local authority services.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
Since October 2021, Government has provided over £2 billion to local authorities in England via the Household Support Fund (HSF) for them to provide discretionary support with the cost of essentials to those most in need. As with all government spending in England, the HSF has led to consequential increases in Barnett funding, which the Devolved Administrations can spend at their discretion. The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024.
No such assessment has been made of the potential impact of the ending of the Household Support Fund on local authorities and people accessing local authority services. The government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children of compulsory school age live in households in receipt of Universal Credit with a household income after tax and before benefits of less than (a) £7,400, (b) £9,075 and (c) £9,390 a year in each region of England.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The requested information is provided in the attached spreadsheet, subject to the caveats set out in the attached.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children of compulsory school age live in households in receipt of Universal Credit with a household income after tax and before benefits of less than (a) £7,400, (b) £9,075 and (c) £9,390 a year in England.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The requested information is provided in the attached spreadsheet, subject to the caveats set out in the attached.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of Housing Benefit.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
The level of housing support is reviewed annually through assessing the Local Housing Allowance rates and by monitoring housing welfare policy.
For those who need additional support to meet their housing costs, the Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows Local Authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living.
In addition, for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. This will be split into three payments of around £300 each across the 2023/24 financial year. The first payment is due to be paid to eligible households from tomorrow (25th May). A separate £300 payment will be made to pensioner households on top of their Winter Fuel Payments and individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will receive a £150 payment. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were in receipt of (a) Statutory Maternity Pay, (b) Statutory Paternity Pay, (c) Statutory Adoption Pay and (d) Statutory Shared Parental Pay in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
Information provided by employers to HMRC show the number of individuals in receipt of Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (SShPP). This data provides a broad indication of take-up but does not include anyone taking unpaid leave. Data for the 2022-23 financial year is incomplete, and we therefore provide data for the 2021-22 financial year.
Table 1: Individuals in receipt of SMP, SPP, SAP, SShPP in 2021/22 (the latest year for which full year data is available)
| No. of individuals in receipt of parental pay in 2021/22 |
Statutory Maternity Pay | 636,000 |
Statutory Paternity Pay | 204,200 |
Statutory Adoption Pay | 4,600 |
Statutory Shared Parental Pay | 13,000 |
Notes
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the accuracy of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment process for people with epilepsy; and how many and what proportion of people with epilepsy successfully appealed an initial assessment for PIP in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
No such assessment has been made.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is intended to act as a contribution towards the extra costs that arise from needs related to a long-term health condition or disability. Entitlement is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from the health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself.
Decisions are made following consideration of all of the information provided by the claimant, including supporting evidence from their GP or medical specialist, together with an assessment report from a healthcare professional.
For decisions made up to 30th June 2022, where claimants had one of the conditions within the 'Epilepsy' subgroup recorded as their primary condition, there were 9,500 successful appeals, 11% of initial decisions relating to epilepsy.
Please note:
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in ensuring that parents receive the money they are owed.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) continues to take rigorous action to collect maintenance, combining robust negotiation activity with the highly effective use of its extensive range of Enforcement Powers. This approach is driven by the Payment Compliance strategy increasing CMG compliance influencing activities to tackle non-paying cases and challenge non-compliant behaviours.
The UK went into its first lockdown on the 23rd March 2020, its second on the 5th November 2020 and its third on the 6th January 2021. The Child Maintenance Service was affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the resultant changes to the Department’s operational priorities and staffing resources. CMS have worked in partnership with Courts and Enforcement Agents following the restrictions on Enforcement activity during this period to quickly return to normal operating practice and pursue non-compliant parents.
Total child maintenance collected using Enforcement Actions amounted to £35.9 million in the quarter to June 2022 compared with £33.9 in June 2021 and £31.2 in June 2020. This rise in collections is linked directly to increased collections through Deductions from Earnings Orders, lump sum and regular deductions taken directly from paying parents’ bank accounts, Liability Order and Bailiff actions and making full use of all available sanctions.
(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables – table 7.1 ‘Enforcement Actions’, April 2015 to June 2022).
As a result of a focussed effort to increase enforcement activity £48.8 million was paid through the Collect & Pay service in the quarter to June 2022 compared to the quarter ending December 2019 where £44.1 million was paid before the impact of the pandemic took effect.
(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables – table 5 ‘Money Due and Paid each quarter’ January 2015 to June 2022).
There has been a consistent downward trend in the proportion of unpaid maintenance as a proportion of maintenance arranged since 2017, falling from 12.5% in 2017 to 8.25% in June 2022.
(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables - table 6 ‘ how much maintenance CMS has arranged March 2015 to June 2022).
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what powers the Child Maintenance Service has to (a) enforce or (b) sanction parents in the event that a parent refuses to pay money that they owe.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
The Child Maintenance Group has the following powers which can be applied, immediately, if payment compliance cannot be re-established and are subject to fixed charges:
If the paying parent is self-employed or not employed, we can apply:
If a bank account is not identified or there are no, or insufficient, funds available to permit any deduction order, the case will be referred for consideration and instigation of legal enforcement action to secure what is owed. The following enforcement powers available are:
We always strive to achieve long term payment compliance and throughout the enforcement process, the case will continuously be reviewed to determine whether previously unsuccessful action may now be successful.
The Child Maintenance Group regularly reviews enforcement procedures and policies to continuously improve efficiency and effectiveness. Legislation and policy are similarly reviewed with policy colleagues to consider whether other actions should be introduced.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to abolish the four per cent collection fee charged to parents receiving regular payments through the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
There are no plans to abolish the 4% collection charge for receiving parents. This charge only applies to the Collect and Pay service and is intended to provide a parent with an incentive to use the Direct Pay service which has no ongoing fees.
The collection charge for the receiving parent is deducted only when maintenance is paid, with no money owed to the Child Maintenance Service if maintenance is not paid. These charges contribute to the cost of running an expensive service, which remains subsidised by the taxpayer.